5 Ways to Create Engaging, Conversion-Oriented Web Pages

Conversion oriented web pages are made to sell. There’s no beating around the bush, they take the direct line and ask for the form submission, phone call or sale. But in order to actually get what they want, conversion-oriented  web pages have to engage the visitor; the page has to pull the visitor in and persuade him/her to take the desired action. 

Because people who land on your page from an online ad will only give you mere seconds to convince them to stick around, we tell our customers to quickly engage visitors in the following ways:

Have a compelling value proposition:

In this Iron Mountain example we see the company smartly uses pre-conversion segmentation to quickly determine which kind of buyer has landed on the page. They then use this information to offer up really targeted offers once an option is clicked through. This makes the value of the offer really compelling to the visitor because it’s suited just for him/her.

Make an emotional appeal:

Tell a great story that quickly resonates with the visitor using words and pictures. Make sure it’s a feel-good story that the visitor will want to be a part of. In this microsite example we see a cute baby next to the words “trusted leader for over 50 years” — now that’s a feel-good appeal to the emotions!

Provide rational justification:

Appealing to the emotions isn’t always enough. When I see a cute puppy in the pet store, I immediately want to take it home, but my rational side tells me it’s a bad idea for a variety of reasons. This is why your conversion-oriented web page must also include rational justification.  You must persuade the visitor with solid logic to take your desired action. Extra points if you do this in easily digestible chunks through the use of bullet points, graphs or charts.

Overland does a great job of offering rational justification in this microsite through bullet points. 

Ensure you have an affective design:

You can have a fantastic value proposition, a great appeal to the emotions, and all the rational justification in the world, but if your page is hard to use, just plain ugly, or the call-to-action is hidden, you won’t have an effective page. Make sure your page follows UX standards, looks great, and tells the visitor what to do next.

Be different! 

You put a lot of time and effort into creating a unique and memorable brand for your company. Don’t throw all that away when creating your campaign web pages. Just because they aren’t part of your main site doesn’t mean your landing pages and microsites shouldn’t be infused with brand value. 

And step away from the traditional landing page template. Try testing new and different features, layouts and elements. Video is a fun one to test with, throw in some social elements if your audience is social, and just run with some of your craziest ideas. That’s the best thing about testing - you can try big, new ideas while taking on little risk if they fail. A lot of times they’ll surprise you and do wildly well, and you’ll be glad you tried that crazy idea!

These five tips are part of a larger conversion optimization strategy Scott Brinker came up with called the R.E.A.D.Y Framework for Conversion Optimization.

For more insight into the R.E.A.D.Y. framework check out Improve Conversion Rates by Being Authoritative and 5 Directional Cues for Increasing Landing Page Conversions.

What ways are you engaging your campaign traffic and persuading them to convert?